DNA leads to match in 1993 Fort Myers sexual assault, kidnapping

A Florida inmate was charged Wednesday in connection with a 1993 sexual battery and kidnapping in Fort Myers.

Jessie Hayes Jr., 51, who was already serving a 30-year sentence at the Union Correctional Institute in Raiford, for an attempted armed robbery, was transported to the Lee County Jail.

He was the second Lee County man charged this week with a sexual assault from the 1990s.

On Aug. 3, 1993, deputies investigated a kidnapping and sexual battery that took place on a dirt road behind the Greater Bethel Baptist Church on Fairview Avenue in Fort Myers.

Hayes, Jr. is accused of approaching the victim’s vehicle at the intersection of Highland and Edison avenues, forcing himself into her vehicle and making her drive to the assault location at knifepoint.

The victim stated that Hayes sexually attacked her and then left her vehicle. Following the assault, the victim was examined at a local medical facility and a sexual assault evidence kit was assembled.

A Florida Department of Law Enforcement Combined DNA Index System database search resulted in a match with Hayes.

Paul S. Jacob, 46, was arrested Tuesday accused of a sexual battery of a minor that occurred Dec. 9, 1995.

In 1995, deputies received a call from the victim reporting a sexual battery that occurred on a dirt road extension in the area of Veronica Shoemaker Boulevard. The victim said the suspect offered to drive her to get something to eat at a local restaurant.

Instead, he drove her to a wooded area and sexually battered her in the vehicle, after which the suspect drove her to a nearby apartment complex and let her go.

Jacob was identified as a result of a DNA match, after analysis performed pursuant to the National Institute of Justice Project. Jacob was charged with sexual battery on a minor and is in the Lee County Jail with no bond.